After going through some New Year’s resolutions for Riot Games, it’s time to move on to some competitive teams. This time around, let’s take a look at a few teams from the LCS. NA once again had a pretty entertaining off-season filled with big moves, and now it’s time for these teams to prove their moves were the right ones. So what do some of these teams need to do going into a new season?

Cloud9: Keep the Magic Going

If fans learned anything from the last season, it’s to never doubt Cloud9. Despite benching mid laner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen  and the bot lane duo of Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi and Andy “Smoothie” Ta to start the Summer Split, Cloud9 stuck to their guns and showed their long term plan would pay off as the team shot their way to the NA LCS finals and eventually the third seed for Worlds.

Now they start this season with all-star mid Jensen moving on to Team Liquid and former Splyce mid laner Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer taking his place. While it’s a downgrade on paper, it’s hard to bet against Cloud9. Their track record has always been there, regardless of who’s playing for their team. As a result, for the new year, Cloud9 need to keep their magic going and remind the rest of the league to never count them out.

100 Thieves: Avoid Conflict

Despite going into Worlds as the second seed for North America, the latter part of the season for 100 Thieves was filled with controversy and alleged internal conflict. It led to them placing 4th after a loss to a struggling TSM squad and an abysmal performance at Worlds. Roster changes needed to be made – and boy, they made some big ones.

In order to address their issues in the ADC position, they brought on former world champion Bae “Bang” Jun-sik. With two amazing carry players in Bang and top laner Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho, the team opted to go with a more supportive mid player in Choi “Huhi” Jae-hyun. While these two moves in general were amazing, it provides the team with other benefits. From what fans know, Huhi and Bang both appear to be fairly easygoing individuals, hopefully, this means that the team can get along and have a great season without any internal dispute. If they’re able to do so, this team will be one of the favorites to win it all.    

Team Liquid: Complete Dominance is the Only Option

After a disappointing result at Worlds, Team Liquid knew that they needed to get better. With two notable weaknesses in mid and support, which were quickly taken care of. In the mid lane, while Eugene “Pobelter” Park was a solid player, he was unable to be a consistent second carry behind ADC Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng. To fix this, the team brought on Jensen from Cloud9, providing some much-needed carry threat for the team. Meanwhile, in the support position, Kim “Olleh” Joo-sung was considered too inconsistent and by far the weakest link on the team, regardless of how fans felt about him, it’s hard to deny a change needed to be made. Once again, Team Liquid spared no resources as they brought on former world champion Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in as Doublelift’s new support.

For this team, the pressure is on. On paper, this team has no huge weakness and players that are mostly top three in their respective roles. Just winning LCS titles won’t be enough for this team now. They need to absolutely dominate the region and go on to have amazing performances internationally. Will they be able to prove themselves? Or will they evaporate?

To watch League of Legends tournaments, visit watch.na.lolesports.com. For more information on the Split, teams, standings, and players, visit www.lolesports.com. Recaps of former weeks and other LoL content can be found at https://thegamehaus.com/league-of-legends/.

Featured image courtesy of Riot Games

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